Liliana's: Madison, WI

My favorite women and their favorite men (who happen to be among my favorites, too, but in a slightly more platonic way) and I headed out to Liliana's in Fitchburg on a recent Friday night. Liliana's attempts upscale Cajun cuisine in a lovely, eclectically decorated space named after the owner's daughter.

We were seated promptly at a table near a window and a small fountain in the middle of the dining room. A backserver brought us fresh baguette and, curiously, a plate of balsamic vinegar and oil sprinkled with pepper. The bread was pronounced good by all at the table before we even received our drinks. Liliana's features some local and regional beers on tap and I ordered my beloved Spotted Cow to accompany what I hoped would be a spicy meal.

To start, Kevin ordered a chicken, bacon and wild rice chowder that he pronounced very good. Zach ordered the buffalo pork shoulder which came with toasted bread and homemade giardiniara, which both he and Kristin (and maybe Jess) enjoyed. I started with the salad of the day: baby field greens with herbed montrachet, walnuts, red onion and honeycrisp apples picked by Liliana herself that day. It was topped with a light apricot vinaigrette, though I admit I had a hard time tasting the apricot. The salad was fresh and crisp and the montrachet was a good complement to the sweet apples.







Between the five of us, we ordered only three different entrees but all were pronounced tasty. Kristin and I decided to go halfsies on the jambalaya and the pasta Liliana. Kevin ordered the pasta Liliana while Jess got the pasta buscatini and Zach went for the jambalaya.



The pasta Liliana featured fresh broad noodles tossed in a red pepper cream sauce and topped with shaved parmesan, andouille sausage, chicken and blackened shrimp. Kristin especially enjoyed the lightness and spice of the cream sauce and described the andouille as "smoky, mild, and flavorful" and perfect for a sometimes-reluctant sausage eater like her.



The jambalaya was served in a huge bowl over white rice and featured andouille, tasso ham (which is not really ham at all, I learned), lardon (strips of bacon-like fat), and blackened shrimp. The sauce was very spicy, as promised, and went perfect with my beer. Both Zach and I really enjoyed this dish though we found ourselves with lots of leftovers, which we deemed "bowls of pork." My only complaint was that the blackened shrimp, while good, were few.



Jess's pasta buscatini is ordinarily served with mushrooms, but she asked to skip those. The fresh linguine tossed with a pesto cream sauce and roasted red peppers was good, but she later said she wasn't sure if it was $14 good.

In all, I believe our total bill was around $110 for three drinks, three first courses and five entrees, which given the level of service and quality of the food, seemed like a decent, if not every Friday, sort of deal. I liked Liliana's and hope Madison likes it enough to keep it around. Judging from the dinner crowd on Friday evening, I may not have to worry too much.